Final Anka Files

I've been home for 4 days now and have had lots of time to reflect on a very fun tour with Mr. Anka. We played Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg to close out the tour. The crowds were great in every place but especially in Winnipeg. The MTS Center is the hockey arena there and the cut it off at about a third and filled it up with about 4000 people. It was great. When we played in Saskatoon we were treated by Mr. Anka to a very nice dinner at a high class restaurant which I thought was a very nice touch. I was lucky enough to get to sit across from Paul and a respect that was already there grew ten fold. He was great to talk to.

As I said in previous posts Paul Anka is a true professional in every way. No one can deny that he is one of the finest song writers around with so many great songs to his credit and this tour was a real eye opener for me to his body of work. His voice is amazing, he sings in tune and sings with such power and conviction. His ability to hold an audiences' attention is superb and he structures his sets so wonderfully. A great experience all around.

I felt fall in the air today which brings a big smile to my face. We have a spectacular lineup for October and I look forward to seeing all of you down here soon.

Anka Files #3

Once again, Im amazed at how many people actually read these posting. Im flattered that so many people are interested in my life...I actually get emails from people giving me heck for not updating it more often. I think I going to try to update it every Monday with 'Monday Musings' but Im starting on Thursday..

The Paul Anka tour so far has been a lot of fun on so many different fronts. First off its great to be playing saxophone every day or every other day. I forget sometimes how much I enjoy it. I often wonder sometimes if I didn't buy the club if I would be playing more. I love the club so spending time on 'what if's' I suppose is useless. Needless to say its great to be playing every day. I haven't had much contact with Paul on a personal level but the contact I have had has been wonderful. He is truly a wonderfully engaging performer and I find myself with a list of his tunes that I know want to play in jazz sense. "Im Not Anyone" sung by Sammy Davis Junior, "Lets Try Again' by Frank Sintra. Paul Anka is truly an icon and one of the finst song writers I now have the privelage of knowing. Don't be suprised if you hear some of these tunes on my next gig. As for the way he treats his band, again I have to say its 1st class all the way. Good food, fabulous hotel rooms and for the Vancouver horn section executvie seating on all of our flights. Im racking up the air miles which is great!!

I must admit I am enjoying waking up to the sunshine this September. Its nice, I just can't wait till it starts getting darker earlier. the club has picked up considerably which is nice. On a sad note our chef of almost two years Elizabeth Reid has left us for greener pastures. Mindy Sheppard joins the Cellar team and will continue the trend of great food at The Cellar.

Im disappointed to report that my return to radio has been short lived. I was filling in for a suspended show that won its appeal and am no longer on the air. The good news however is that my show has been approved by the programming comittee and they just have to find a spot for me to broadcast so I will be back.

We are getting ready for one of our biggest months ever at the club. Booking wise anyways. October sees the likes of legendeary tenor saxophonist Frank Wess, vocalist Dee Daniels, The Uptown Quintet, George Colligan, Kate Hammett-Vaughan among other grace the Cellar stage.

See you soon!

The Anka Files #2

Well, after a great sleep, it was down to Traders for a breat buffet breakfast. I have to say that so far we have been treated very well. I guess Anka's Rider calls for food vouchers for the band but on top of that he pays for our per diem......not bad I would say.

The rehearsal was very very very stressful. There was no time to get the charts in order and Jon Crosse just started calling them and we had to find em as quick as we could. I would have an eaier time reading chinese and making any sense of it but somehow we did well enough to impress Jon. I was very nervous about everything but the fact that we are playing to tracks makes it easier....I guess Paul likes that big sound so there are actually tracks of the big band that we play with so if you happen to mess up you can just lay out and the tracks will cover you....

The only scary thing that happened is when I went to pick up my bass clarinet to rehearss Everybody Hurts....it mysteriously didn't work and I was freaking out. Scott Morin (2nd alto) calmed me down and said that he doubted Paul would even do that tune and he was right. The show was incredible. Bright lights, big production and I think the saxes did pretty well for just seeing the charts that day. Paul Anka sang beautifully and he really has the gift of performing. It was quite a scene to watch and I have to say I felt special.

We awoke this morning at 545, got the airport and once again got Executive Class seats but we were the only ones and we not only looked stupid but felt a little wierd that the rest of the band had Coach and we had Executive. Now, make no mistake we didn't feel bad enough that we joined them in Coach but you know what mean it was a little wiered seeing the musical director get turned down at the Lounge desk and us three punks walk right through. Oh well, take it when you can I guess.

Vancouver, tomorrow and Saturday. No guest list passes. I shelled out $250 do my girlfriend could go....thats how FAMOUS I AM!!!

THE ANKA FILES

Hello all, sorry for the lack of posts lately. There has been lots going on and to be quite honest haven't been all that interested in posting.....this entry is coming to you from The Calgary Marriot.

For those of you who don't know I go the call to play bari sax with The Paul Anka Orchestra. Quite funny but an opportunity I simply couldn't pass up. I have been on the road a lot before and to be quite honest with you I find it quite comforting. Anyways today was a travel day. The fun part about this gig is that Scott Morin, Alvin Cornista and Kostas R. are all in the section. We were all buddies in college when we played in Brad Turner's 'A' band at that time. I stress 'A' because in college that was the hierarchy. The 'A' band with Turner was as good as it got. Seems silly now but oh well.

I arrived at the check in counter and was prompted to use the electronic check in. Without really even looking at my ticket I just glanced at the gate number so I know where I was to go when we were boarding. I found a restaurant and overpaid for lunch. I then made my way to the gate. I still had seen Kostas or Alvin. I glanced up and saw them but I was listening to my iPod so I didn't yell out or anything, I just thought I would gather myself and go find them. For the life of me I couldn't find them and couldn't figure out where the heck they could've gone. I sat back down and pulled out my ticket because boarding was to commence in about 20 minutes. Upon inspecting my ticket I realized that my row number was 1 and my seat was C. that perplexed me because that meant we were right at the front of the plane which meant we were in Executive Class....and there it was right at the top of the ticket EXECUTIVE CLASS. I then figured out exactly where those guys went. The Executive VIP room. Man was I choked.....what I overpaid for they ate for free....oh well you snooze you lose.

On to the plane we went and wow was it comfy. Alvin, Kostas and I caught up with one another and what was going on in our lives and the flight just zipped by. At the airport we were greeted by P.A. Productions where we were escorted to a cargo van for our luggage and then a van to take us to the hotel. We piled in to a van with about 10 other guys. Obviously these guys were Paul Anka regulars and it was like entering the little clique. It was interesting. I had to sit for 30 mintues listening to some guy tell me that Alberta made an 8 billion dollar profit this year, another guy wondering why the lions and the tigers were put right beside the elephants in the zoo and another guy wondering aloud 'are wolverines vegetarians?' Oh how I was happy to get out of the van at The Marriott.

We walked around downtown Calgary for a bit checking out some of the shops etc. We found this great store that had these shirts with a FENDER RHODES piano on the front and it just said Urban Groove. We all went in to buy one and they said they were only available for free if you spent more than $200........weird!

Thats it for day 1, stay tuned for more. Paul gets into town tomorrow and who knows what will happen. While Im typing this I'm listening to an interesting CD with Phil Dwyer on tenor sax, Terri Lynn Carrington on drums, Marc Rogers on bass and a piano and fender rhodes player whos name escapes me.

Is Summer Over???

I post this as Im listening to The Mike Allen Quarte wonderfully romp through a set of music inspired by Sonny Rollins. A decent crowd to boot for a labor day Friday night at The Cellar.

Im really happy that the summer has finally ended. I know that a sac-religious type of thing to say but for my piece of mind the summer cannot leave soon enough. I look forward to rainy days, grey skies and it getting dark by 5:00. I love the hustle and bussle that you can hear in the fall and winter. Things are busy, people are out etc. This August was a tough one at The Cellar. Lots of slow nights but as per usual no lack of incredible music thats for sure. For some reason all the things I did last August were 'money' and this year I did many of the same things and they weren't so 'mone.' Oh well you win some and you lose some, I just seemed to lose more than I won this year....oh well, on to more positive things;

Here is whats coming that Im super pumped about:

October 7th and 8th - Frank Wess (this guy is a legend, he's 83 and swings his ass off)

October 20th and 21st - The UPTOWN QUINTET feat. Ryan Kisor on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson - Smith on alto sax. Ryan Kisor is someone that you really don't want to miss. This guy is heavy.

October 26th and 27th - George Colligan / Terry Deane Quintet.
If you haven't heard pianist George Colligan you need to! He is absolutely amazing. Terry Deane is no slouch either, this guy can play. This meeting is a reunion of sorts as the two used to play in New York togehter

Novenber 4th and 5th - Tilden Webb Trio with special guest David Fathead Newman.
Need I say more? They will be celebrating the release of their live CD recorded right here at The Cellar.

December 12th / 13th - THE KENNY BARRON TRIO....again need I say more?

Looking forward to seeing you in the fall.

Cory